I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to food processing apparatus and, more particularly to apparatus for heating kernels of popcorn and coating the popped kernels with a confectionary preparation.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Popping corn, more commonly known as popcorn, is a well known and popular food product. The kernels of corn are heated until they burst to form light, fluffy and chewable vegetable matter. The popped kernels are often treated with butter, salt or other confectionary preparations to provide additional flavor to the kernels. However, the coating process is often messy and time consuming. In addition, due to the irregular shape of the popped kernels, it is often difficult to uniformly coat the popped kernels with the confectionary preparation.
Although it is likely that the process of coating corn has been mechanized for large scale production of popcorn, such devices are inappropriate for home use in order to provide readily prepared and immediately consumable portions of popcorn. In particular, there is no compact device which is convenient to use within the household for preparing and coating popcorn.